


escape velocity

by thunderylee



Series: love february 2021 [1]
Category: NEWS (Japan Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Ambiguous Relationship, Gen, IN SPACE!, Inspired by The Expanse, New Planets, the f word
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-01
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-12 14:41:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29137242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thunderylee/pseuds/thunderylee
Summary: Koyama does not, in fact, hit the ground running.
Relationships: Kato Shigeaki/Koyama Keiichiro
Series: love february 2021 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2138346
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8





	escape velocity

**Author's Note:**

> [love february](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ftDAHBxVtsYIrcV15NSQQu3XBXufP7tSPZV431WCM6I/edit?usp=sharing) day 1: first time. i made this spread to kick my ass into writing this month, and it figures i wouldn't stick with the love theme for the very first one 🤣 my challenge my rules lol.

It’s like nothing Koyama has ever seen before. In the asteroid belt where he has lived his whole life, planets are big balls of gas whose moons exist purely for mining resources. The concept of _ground_ and _ocean_ eludes him. He knows they exist, of course, but the closest he’s come to seeing them with his own eyes has been in pictures.

Until now. The bright blue world gets closer as they coast toward the atmosphere, which is scattered with all types of pure white clouds. Clouds are new to him too, as is a natural atmosphere. Astrophysicists may have figured out how to travel faster through dark matter, but terraforming is still something that’s only possible in science fiction.

“It’s beautiful,” Koyama says out loud.

Next to him, Shige hides a grin. Shige’s originally from Earth, but Koyama doesn’t hold that against him. Earth is no longer habitable anyway, at least not on the surface. One downside to having all of that water is that you can’t build very far underground. If Shige had stayed there, he would have been wiped out with the rest of them when the polar ice caps melted.

Instead, Shige’s here with him now, flying through one of the many new star systems that have become available to humankind with the advancements in interstellar travel. Most of the habitable planets are still in the beginning stages of colonization, just starting to accept immigrants who are not scientists or militia. Koyama and Shige have been on the waiting list for five years.

Koyama can count on one hand how many times he’s landed his ship on a rock’s surface instead of docking it to a floating station, but he still remembers what to do. Flip and burn to offset the planet’s gravity, then slowly allow it to be pulled down. They’d already been cleared by air traffic control and he had the coordinates for the landing platform; he just had to _land_.

“Are you actually nervous?” Shige asks incredulously as he straps himself into the copilot’s chair. “I’ve been flying with you for twenty years, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen your hands shake like this.”

“I’m fine, it’ll be fine.”

Koyama says that mainly for himself, eyes locked on the controls in front of him like that’s going to make this any easier. The ship starts to shake as it hits atmosphere, followed by small bit of vertigo when they begin to descend faster than Koyama would like. If he turns up the burn anymore, it will take them even longer to land, so he just focuses on a fixed point like he’s been taught.

The landing platform isn’t very sturdy, turning his landing into more of a crash, but they arrive unscathed. There’s probably damage to his ship, but Koyama will worry about that later. They don’t plan on leaving again anyway.

Shige jumps up first, walking around so naturally that Koyama rolls his eyes, which takes a lot more effort than usual. While this planet's gravity is only a fraction of Earth’s, it’s still an adjustment for Koyama. It takes all of his energy just to lift himself out of his seat, let alone pick up his feet and put them back down.

He’s made it halfway to the airlock when Shige backtracks enough to see him struggling. His grin is so big that Koyama’s cheeks hurt just looking at him.

“Need some help, Belter?”

“Fuck you.”

Shige bursts out laughing, and Koyama finds some justice in the way Shige loses his balance and almost falls over. Then Shige’s coming closer ( _skipping_ , that bastard) and slings an arm underneath Koyama’s shoulders to take on some of the suddenly excruciating weight.

“Thanks,” Koyama mutters. “I’ll be okay in a few minutes. It’s just a lot to take at once.”

"Here I thought you kept me around this whole time just to lean on in this very moment.”

Koyama’s scoff hurts his throat, which only bothers him until the airlock opens.

Within seconds, Koyama’s looking out at a blue sky and green grass. There are buildings in the distance, a geometric pattern of light reflecting off of the solar panels on top. Nothing but clean energy moving forward. Nobody wants another repeat of Earth.

“Koyama?” Shige’s voice pulls him out of his awe, followed by a gentle tug on his unmoving body. “Are you okay? Can you breathe?”

Koyama _can_ breathe. He hadn’t even thought about it, acting like he was getting off his ship at a regular space station instead of onto an actual _planet_. He inhales sharply and feels a little lightheaded. The natural oxygen here is so much better than the recycled air he’s been breathing since he was born.

“Wow,” is all he can say, which seems to satisfy Shige’s concern for now.

He starts walking again, craning his neck around to look at all the trees and roads and everything he’s only seen in old visual media. A pleasant warmth hits the top of his head and travels down his body, a small breeze tickling his skin. He hasn’t known _weather_ before either.

“Ze from the Belt?” someone asks, and Shige nods apologetically at the short person running up to them, “Masuda” stitched onto his lab coat. “Better hold onto zem. Haven’t met a single one who didn’t fall on zer ass when ze see the horizon for the first time.”

“What’s a hor—” Koyama starts, then falls silent as he looks straight ahead at where the land meets the sky. Instantly, his whole equilibrium seems to give out from under him, the relentless gravity knocking him right to the ground.

He grabs on to Shige for some semblance of stability, even if Shige’s support includes more boisterous laughter.

"Welcome home,” Masuda says, his smile as bright as the two suns above.


End file.
